Mastodawn

Jeff Jarvis Nov 17, 2022

I will give big points to the first news organization, big or small, that:
* Sets up an instance for its newsroom,
* Sets up an instance for the community it serves,
* Enables rel=me for staff,
* Creates a boost-on-Mastodon sharing function,
* Enhances that function so headlines/images (with alt-text) appear in the toot,
* Covers the Fediverse as more than a geeky curiosity or alt-Twitter,
* Listens to and joins in the conversation here.

Matt Blaze Nov 17, 2022

@jeffjarvis Having news orgs have their own instances for their staff sounds good, but it may not be great for journalists. On Twitter, a journalist can develop a following that they take with them when they move employers. But someone who develops a following on their employer's mastodon instance loses it when they leave (unless they allow them to migrate the account elsewhere).

Simeon Nedkov Nov 17, 2022

@mattblaze @jeffjarvis Mastodon has “move account” functionality baked in. A couple of days ago I moved to a new instance. Or do you mean something else (on top of that)?

@simeon @jeffjarvis It requires your instance to support it. Will private orgs allow it? Also, it deletes the post history.

Simeon Nedkov Nov 17, 2022

@mattblaze @jeffjarvis Right. I think they should but I also see that you leave your org's email address behing when you leave.

Another approach would be to link/affiliatie people to orgs through Mastodon’s verification mechanism and severe the link when they move away from organisation. Bonus (?): there is no need for an org instance.

@mattblaze @simeon @jeffjarvis Moving doesn't "delete" post history. The posts still exist at the original instance where they were posted unless the admin does surgery to remove them.

This is because posts are referred to by URL, including the domain name, and all attachments are hosted by that domain's instance. Moving posts across instances would break those linkages and cannot bring thread replies with them.

Make your first post "To see older posts, browse @olduser@oldinstance" if it's that important.

Simeon Nedkov Nov 17, 2022

@ToddVierling Thanks for explainer. I was wondering why posts can’t be moved but didn’t have the time to look it up yet.

Baruch Katz Nov 17, 2022

@ToddVierling If an admin of one server blocks your account, is there a way to recover your post history when you have moved to a different account to a different server?

@baruch You can export a copy of your data before moving (and you should), but there's not a lot you can do if malicious admin actions are involved.

That's not really any different from how major social media works. If your account gets suspended on the Musksite, and your appeal to the nebulous review team is denied, you're out of luck.

In short: You should know your instance admin(s) a little because you are putting trust in them.

Baruch Katz Nov 17, 2022

@ToddVierling So moving is just a helpful redirect for your audience. It doesn’t let you take your account with you if you are kicked out. Thanks for the explanation.

@ToddVierling @mattblaze @simeon @jeffjarvis

Very good tips! Thanks

lightcutscode (she/her) 🇨🇦Nov 17, 2022

We can just delete our own posts ourselves, though, right? That does delete them from the server? (i.e., delete everything ourselves from the old server once we move?)

What do you recommend for doing the import/export of our follower/following network?

Nemo_bis 🌈Nov 17, 2022

@ToddVierling "Moving posts across instances would break those linkages"

That's entirely avoidable though. Links already go through aliases in #Mastodon.
https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/19902#issuecomment-1310982282

@mattblaze @simeon @jeffjarvis

Support post migration for already-known posts and media · Issue #19902 · mastodon/mastodon

Pitch When migrating an account to a new instance, the user should have the possibility to also migrate their own posts with their media. Because this presents all sorts of issues, such a feature s...

GitHub

James Hart Nov 18, 2022

@nemobis @ToddVierling

I think a far bigger issue with importing historic posts is that it enables people to make it look like they posted anything they like, at any arbitrary time in the past.

In the fediverse, you can't trust that other servers are being honest about history.

robert aleksic Nov 17, 2022

@ToddVierling why, when changing instances, are all post references not changed to new ones? I realy can't see technical reason for this. As of atachments, why servers can't repost them in the process od changing instances?

@mattblaze @simeon @ToddVierling @jeffjarvis #mastodontips - thread on moving accounts to different servers & some backend explanation

atomicangel Nov 17, 2022

@mattblaze @simeon @jeffjarvis

I was just discussing this a bit ago, it doesn't fully delete the post history, in just stays with the old instance. You can put a referring link to the old instance if necessary.

On the instance I live, I can also export my old posts as a JSON file.